The cost of producing today's motion pictures, particularly action adventure, science fiction and fantasy films that utilize substantial digital visual effects, is increasing astronomically. Large scale productions, such as the movie Titanic, are high risk ventures, with escalating costs increasingly difficult to contain. Studios have responded to these economic realities by cutting the number of films they produce, canceling projects and moving production out of the country.
Digital technologies, and in particular computer generated imaging and Chromakey techniques to create special visual effects, have undoubtedly enhanced the creative potential of motion picture production. Digital visual effects, however, have generally been used in conjunction with conventional large scale production methods that involve major stars, large crews, exotic location shooting, lengthy shooting schedules and spectacular physical sets, and have tended to increase rather than decrease the cost of motion picture production.
What has been lacking is a comprehensive approach to incorporating digital technology into all phases of the motion picture production process to accelerate the pace of production and significantly decrease costs by reducing the downtime associated with set and lighting changes; by filming actors on a sound stage using photorealistic backgrounds of virtual worlds and characters in place of real environments and sets; and by providing immediate on-line editing capability both prior to and during the production process.